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How Solid Is Zell's Deal for Tribune? (NYT)
When Tribune Company shareholders gather tomorrow in Chicago to approve an $8.2 billion plan to take the company private, an uncomfortable question is sure to be on many of their minds: Will this deal fall apart? The people involved say no, but the market seems to have its doubts. LAT: The main reason for the investor skepticism is the heavy debt load that Chicago-based Tribune would be carrying after it went private, plus the continuing decline in advertising revenue and cash flow from the company's TV stations and newspapers.

PEJ Study: War Coverage Down, Campaign Reporting Up (E&P)
Coverage of events related to the Iraq War decreased during the second quarter of 2007, but remained the top news issue, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which noted 15 percent of stories across print, broadcast and online dealt with Iraq-related issues. That is down from 22 percent during the first quarter of the year.

In His Departure Rove Is Lionized and Vilified by Media Hordes (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: What if journalists are part of an unspoken conspiracy to inflate Rove's importance — not for ideological reasons but because it makes for a better narrative? What if they are the architects, using well-placed aides to build a stage for inside-dope stories involving Rove and his colleagues? New Yorker: Nicholas Lemann writes that in a city run by people who have spent their lives endlessly reenacting their election as class president, Rove was un-dull: he was the fabulist, boundary violator, autodidact, mean boy schemer. AP via HuffPo: Rove goes on a talk show blitz after his departure announcement.

Editor Acts, and 10 Time Inc. Magazines Revisit Katrina (NYT)
This month, 10 of Time Inc.'s magazines are running articles about New Orleans. The assorted articles were the result of the editor-in-chief John Huey's unusual decision to take 12 editors on a two-day tour in May of the struggling city. Huey, who oversees the content of more than 150 magazines, said he could not recall a similar trip in the past, nor could others who were involved.

Stuff Publisher Out at Alpha (NYP)
After finally taking over the old Dennis Publishing, Brownridge immediately moved to shut down Stuff but looked like he'd spare at least half the staff, including its editor and publisher, from the axe. But by late Friday afternoon, it looked like publisher John Lumpkin was going to take his lumps. AdAge: Lumpkin joins 18 other Stuff employees who lost their jobs last week.

Rowling Working on Mystery Novel? (AP via USAT)
J.K. Rowling has been spotted at cafés in Scotland working on a detective novel, a British newspaper reported Saturday. The Sunday Times quoted Ian Rankin, a fellow author and neighbor of Rowling's, as saying the creator of the Harry Potter books is turning to crime fiction.

Scent of Scandal at the Times? (Page Six)
It pays to write a rave review in The New York Times. The paper's perfume critic, Chandler Burr, admits accepting free samples of a French fragrance to which he'd given a 5-star writeup last year — and then giving the perfume to patrons of a $200-a-head dinner he hosted this month.

Chicago Tribune to Reduce Page Size (AP)
The Chicago Tribune will become a 1/2-inch narrower starting Jan. 14, the Tribune Co. said Friday. The change to the new industry standard page width "will provide advertisers with more universal ad sizes and conserve newsprint," the company said. The height of the newspaper's pages will remain the same.

Charges of Child Abuse Over CBS Reality Show (NYT)
The ads promoting Kid Nation, a new reality show coming to CBS next month, extol the incredible experience of a group of 40 children, ages 8 to 15, who built a sort of idealistic society in a New Mexico ghost town, free of adults. But to at least one parent of a participant, who wrote a letter of complaint to New Mexico state officials after production, the experience bordered on abuse and neglect.

Murdoch Journal Watch: New York Post Edition (Slate)
Jack Shafer: Everybody else worries about The Wall Street Journal maintaining its editorial independence under genocidal tyrant Rupert Murdoch, who recently acquired its parent company, Dow Jones & Co. But I'm worried about Murdoch's New York Post maintaining its. NYT: In an auction last week, Doubleday emerged as the high bidder for Michael Wolff's planned biography of Rupert Murdoch, netting the Vanity Fair media columnist an advance in the high six figures.

Top Candidates Profit From Book Deals (AP)
The top-tier presidential candidates have some personal finance numbers in common — six- or seven-figure book deals. Writing a book has become a prerequisite to running for president — a means to explain views in depth, to set the record straight and to add a bit of gravitas. But while nearly all the candidates put pen to paper, it is mainly those ranked high in the polls who make any real money out of it.

Why Web Video Is the New 30-Second Spot (AdAge)
Marketers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their use of online video to create not just linear demonstrations that look like TV commercials, but interactive, virtual experiences. It's an evolution enabled by higher broadband penetration, more sophisticated Web-development technology and a continued rise in TV-ad skipping.

Portfolio Reaching Point of No Return? (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: Condé Nast's Portfolio is getting a bad rap and a bad rep. I'm not referring to its overhyped launch, the debatable quality of the articles, a decline in ad pages from the first issue or even its unambitious Web product. The No. 1 question dogging Portfolio is whether it can repair its image as an out-of-control mess.

Peeping Toms Get Eyeful from Hearst Building's Glass Elevator (New York Mag)
The cascading glass escalators in the lobby of Norman Foster's new Hearst Tower, which carry the ladies of Cosmopolitan, Town & Country and Harper's Bazaar to their offices, also offer a view up their skirts. Some editors were concerned enough that they warned members of their staff prone to wearing trendy mini-minidresses or ballooning short skirts to take care to keep their legs closed.

National Lampoon to Add Female-Centric Site (Mediaweek)
The company is planning to expand its Web offerings. After buying DrunkenUniversity.com earlier this year and subsequently creating a sub-network of college-aimed humor sites, this fall National Lampoon will roll out 8228, a collection of gossip and entertainment sites that are targeted to a more female-skewing audience than the guy-centric humor network.

New College Rankings Controversy Involves Washington Monthly (Inside Higher Ed)
The annual rankings frenzy each fall features rankings of top colleges, party schools and everything in between. But the sector of higher education where more than 40 percent of freshmen start — community colleges — has been notably absent. But a brand new system unveiled by The Washington Monthly attempts to identify the top 30 community colleges in the country.